Improvement in projectiles for rifled ordnance



` H..E. DIMICK.

Projectile.

No. asma.

Panented July 14, 1863.

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Niere@ Sri/lires Paritair l rtree.

HORACE E. DIMICII, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

Specification forming part of' Letters Patent No. 39,2H6, dated July 14,18GB.

To all wiz/0712, it may' concern.-

Be it known that I, HORACE E. DIMICK, of St. Louis city, county of St.Louis, and State of Missouri, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Steel- Pointed R-ie- Projectiles for Piercing Iron Armor of Ships orForts; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exactdescription there of, reference being had to the accompanying drawing,and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of thisspeciication.

The nature of my invention consists in the shape and construction of aprojectile and the combination of steel, wrought and cast iron, lead andBabbitt nietal, so arranged and coinbined as to prove of greater powerfor punching or piercing iron armor of ships or forts, and which givesthe projectile perfect rotation and insures its certain action.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A represents the projectile in front. Itis cylindrically-shaped on theouter edge. rIhe outer edge is made of cast-steel, and the in-v ner oraxis is made of wrought-iron. About a half-inch from the periphery it issquare, as shown at B. From thence it inclines .in wardly to the centerabout an inch and a quarter to another square or plane of a haliinch inwidth, as shown at C. At about a quarter of an inch from the inner edgeof C, at right angles from the offset or plane C, the inclination isdirect to the axis D, as shown at D. The inclination D is made ofwroughtiron, which forms the center ofthe projectile. The cast-steel rimis about one inch. in depth and two inches in width, and iits on thewrought-iron part of the projectile on ashoulder, as shown at E. Thewrought-'iron part of the projectile is a cylinder about three andone-half inches in length. The steel point is hardened of the propertemperature for the purpose of punching iron, and its angular offsets Band C are for the purpose of guiding the fractures made by thecutting-edge B to `the center D and holding the shot, and prevent itsglancing off from the angular surface of contact, and also to pierce orpunch through iron plates when striking them on a direct line with asquare surface Aof Contact. The part representing the wrought-iron, D,is made for the purpose of preventing the fracturing ofthe projectile,and the rear end, G, is made of cast-iron for convenience and economy,and has a casting of' lead, H, about three-tenths inch in thicknessbetween the wroughtviron part and cast-iron part; also, to preventfracturing the cast-iron portion of the projectile. Two pins, J, aboutone and a half inch in length, pass through the wrought-iron, lead, andcast-iron portions to support their joints. The castiron portion G isflush or square with the lead; but about an inch oi'f it has twooffsets, K and L, and then sweeps in a curve to the rear,-the rearforming a half -eircle or globe shape, extending beyond the end of thecylindrical part of the projectile.

M represents nine supports (more or less) of the expanding ring N, andare angular shaped, and wider at their rear ends for the purpose ofinviting and concentrating the ex plosive force of the charge in theopen spaces between the supports IWI, with the view of expanding thering N. This construction enables me to apply the power of rotationnea-rer its short axis, and to keep the axis of the projectilecoincident with that of the bore. The ring N is about three-eighths ofan inch in thickness at top, where it fits ina shoulder of the cast-ironportion G, is about two and one-half inches in width, and tapers to thelower side. It is made of wrought-iron. It expands for the purpose ofiilling the grooves of the gun and. giving the shot rotation. An outsideband or ring, l?, is fitted into a groove of the ring N, and is made ofBabbitt metal about one and three-fourth inch wide, .and is for thepurpose of preventing the wroughtiron band N from injuring the gun byabrasion; and as the ring N has a tendency to drag off and give way fromcontact with the groove` of the gun, the Wide ends of the supports Mserve to tighten it and compensate for, its enlargement by expansion,thereby holding the ring N in its proper position and prevent itsdragging downward during its passage th'rou gh the gun.

I do not claim a concave front; neither do I.

claim the spaces in the renr for inviting` the l the bands N and P, forthe purpose of giving explosive force of the charge; but the projectileperfect rotation and making it /Vhztt I claim as my invention7 anddesire 1 more certain in its action7 ns herein described to secure byLetters Patent, is l HORACE E. DIMICK.

The construction and shape ofthe steel and \Vitnesses: i Wrought-ironfront, in combination with the J. FRANKLIN REIGART, lead and east-ironportion, as arranged with JOHN S. HOLLINGSHEND.

